Siri AI Is Here, and I've Been Testing It in Beta for a Month

Apple made Siri AI official at WWDC last month, and it's not a small update, it's a full rebuild with a new name to match. I've been covering Apple for over a decade and I've watched this exact promise get delayed since 2024, so I went in skeptical. I've been running the iOS 27 public beta for a month now and honestly, it lives up to the hype. Let’s get into it.

Apple is positioning this as an entirely new assistant, not an upgrade. It’s designed to be more capable and conversational, built to help people find information and get things done throughout the day, and after a month of daily use, I'd agree that's not just marketing language.

Personal Context

This is the one I keep coming back to. Siri can now pull from your messages, emails, and photos to actually answer real questions, like finding a restaurant a friend texted you about, digging up a hotel confirmation buried in an old email, or surfacing photos from a trip without you having to search for them yourself. It also extends into third-party apps once developers hook into Spotlight. In practice, this feels like the first version of Siri that actually knows what's going on in your life instead of just responding to commands.

Onscreen Awareness

Siri can now see what's on your screen and act on it. Apple's example is a good one: get a text about a potluck, brainstorm what to bring with Siri, then have it drop the recipe straight into Notes without you switching apps. It genuinely feels less like an assistant and more like a second set of hands.

In-Depth Answers & Conversations

Siri now goes out to the actual web for answers, whether that's when the next solar eclipse is visible or when your favorite artist is coming to town, and you can turn any answer into a full back-and-forth conversation instead of a dead end.

Easily Accessible

On iPhone, you can trigger it with "Hey Siri," the side button, or by swiping down from the Dynamic Island. On iPad and Mac, it's built into Spotlight and into your right-click menu, so you can ask about an image, file, or text without leaving what you're doing. On Vision Pro, it's a 3D visualization you can place anywhere and talk to just by looking at it. It also follows you to Apple Watch, CarPlay, and AirPods, with a Smart Stack suggestion that can pick a recent conversation back up for you.

Siri App

There's finally a dedicated Siri app. It syncs your conversation history through iCloud, so you can start chatting on your Mac and pick it up on your iPhone, iPad, Watch, or Vision Pro without losing the thread.

Camera Mode

This is the one I've been showing everyone. There's a new Siri mode built into the Camera app on iPhone, and you just tap the shutter to let Siri see what you're looking at. It can split a bill with friends through Apple Cash, give you nutritional info on a plate of food, and more. That same visual intelligence is now on iPad and Mac too, first time ever, built into the screenshot flow on iPad and a dedicated keyboard shortcut on Mac. It's also expanding to Vision Pro.

Writing Tools

You can describe what you need and Siri drafts it, or describe a change and it edits on the spot. It also adapts to how you actually communicate with each person. If you always send your manager short bullet points, that's what Siri drafts by default when writing in Mail or Messages. It also proofreads automatically as you type, even in most third-party apps.

First Impressions

A month in, this is the first Siri update in years that feels like it was actually worth the wait. I've tested a lot of "revolutionary" Apple Intelligence promises that didn't hold up once you got past the keynote demo. But I would say that this one does. Personal context and Camera mode have genuinely changed how I use my phone day to day, not in a gimmicky way, in a way where I catch myself reaching for Siri instead of typing something out or digging through old texts myself.

It's still a beta, so it's not flawless, but it's the closest Siri has ever felt to actually keeping up with me. If you've been holding onto an older iPhone waiting for a real reason to upgrade, this might be it.